


Time Out

by EDeacilys



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, English is not my main language, How Do I Tag, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Poll, So sorry for the errors, don't know how to tag, poll choice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-05-13 18:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19256716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EDeacilys/pseuds/EDeacilys
Summary: There are ten levels of dangerousness of Time Rift which function this way: 1= extra difficult (purple) to 10= easy peasy (blue). That is not hard to understand.Yet there is some urban legend about another higher level than 1.But then again, this is just some unbiased rumor.However, this little number is clearly present on her monitor: 0And things go worse...





	1. A Rift a little different

**Author's Note:**

> I! I don't know what this story is about. but I'm gonna have fun to write it out ^^

Hat Kid looked out at the glassy bay of her ship, watching the small planet below.

 

She managed to take back most of the Time Pieces, but some were still on the planet, hidden or lost somewhere. She pouted. There was still so much to do; other planets to visit and Time Pieces to collect! But if she left all those she had already had (and lost), her boss would yell at her for her incompetence…

She sighed. What a pain… Still, she  _ was _ grateful to be in the Time Collect section. Fun was at each step of the trip! She softly laughed at some memories: painting Snatcher blue, the Dead Bird Studios films, the walk in Alpine Skylines, and so many others!

 

So many fond memories…

 

Her thoughts were cut off as an alarm resounded in all rooms of the ship:

“ **TIME RIFT ALERT! TIME RIFT ALERT!** ”

She quickly pressed some buttons, shutting the alarm off, and verified where that Time Rift was and its level of dangerousness. Her eyes widened.

 

There were ten levels of dangerousness, which functioned this way: 1, which was extra difficult (purple), to 10, which was easy peasy (blue). Simple, right?

 

Yet there was an urban legend about another level, higher than 1.

 

But then again, this was just some rumor.

 

However, this little number was clearly present on her monitor: 0

 

She tried to localize it with her computer, but to no avail, so she looked around with her eyes when she finally spotted a little turquoise time vortex, slowly opening, some millions of meters away from the planet…

 

She had a bad feeling about it, but she shrugged it off, thinking it was gonna be okay, like it was gonna be like the other time she had to deal with those, as she sat back and started to drive toward the rift. However, she noticed something strange… the size of the vortex keeps increasing. Bigger than the planet; it kept growing until it was as large as a star.

 

...she had a really bad feeling about this one…

 

Then, things got worse.

 

Something came out. Wait. No. Some _ things _ came out of the Time Rift. At first, she thought they were tentacles, but then realized it was the bandages. Multiple bandages that grabbed the planet and start to pull it in, the giant vortex swallowing the planet without a problem.

 

Oh no! Her friends! She had to do something!

 

But before she could think of a plan, the bandages sensed her ship and started to wrap it up and pull in too. Almost automatically, she put all her motors backwards, trying to escape the grip of those eyed bandages.

 

Wait.  **Eyed bandages?**

 

She verified that her eyes didn’t betray what they saw as a weirdly-drawn eye looked back at her, as many others scanned the interior through the glassy bay. Suddenly, they all focus on one point and she has no difficulty to follow their line of sight:

Her Time Piece safe-deposit box…

 

The bandage eyes turned into some happy wrinkles, then proceeded to break the door and pull on the wheel, ripping it off before grabbing the Time Pieces inside.

 

Oh no. Not again!  _ Not this time! _

 

She quickly switched to the Witch Hat and threw a brew at one of the bandages. It twisted in pain and loosened its grip around the precious item and she rapidly took it, hiding it on her as other bandages grabbed her, pinning her arms, which prevented her from defending herself. She was then knocked out with a Time Piece, and pulled out of her ship and into the vortex.

 

_**~•~•~•~•~•~** _

 

She slowly gained consciousness but she felt like passing out again.

 

She…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesQF1gHZ9HvfKf0i-jOQ_UCrwhOgy2sO8Sm2LvuC9uIHDkrA/viewform
> 
> The poll is closed


	2. Exploring

_ Health: 2/4 _

 

She woke up, fighting her exhaustion with some difficulty. She cracked an eye open. Her entire vision was blurry, and she closed it quickly as a terrible headache made its way to her. She exhaled before opening one of her eyes again, then the second one as well. She had to blink several times before the scenery became clear. Grass filled her vision.

 

She sat up, at great cost, and rubbed her eyes before looking around again. The grass was green and purple, the trees were thin and black along with some houses, the sky was a weird variety of blue, purple and turquoise.

 

The scenery was familiar...or at last nostalgic. It was almost like a fusion of Subcon Forest and Mafia Town.

 

She was really confused.  _ What was happening here? _

 

She got up and looked around, going deeper into the forest.

 

Everything was… odd. The forest was so quiet, too quiet. She wondered why this could be…

 

She walked for a moment; having not met one person yet.

 

She walks some more. And walk. And walk. And walk.

 

Where are all her friends???

 

She started to get desperate. Well, until she saw a dweller.  _ Snatcher’s minion! _

She started to run toward them, and she suddenly noticed that the minion was being chased after those damn eyed bandages.

 

She started to really despise those things…

 

Since she still had the Witch Hat, she threw a concoction at the bandages, which flinched in pain and left, leaving the dweller alone.

Seeing that the minion was okay, she chased after those bands.

 

The dweller looked at her for a moment. “I have to inform the boss!” they said, before returning to the shadows.

 

**_~•~•~•~•~•~_ **

 

She was getting more and more doubtful as she ran after the bands. At the moment, she thought that it was waiting for her as she ran past the trees… It was as if it was  _ leading  _ her… but this can couldn’t be the case, right? 

 

It fly-  _ flows? Levitated? _ \- to the light at the end of the path before each bandage went in a different direction, leaving her in confusion. She would have a curse if the view didn't surprise her.

 

“What the peck is this…?”

 

That is… the castle of Mustache Girl of  _ the Final _ ? And just below that the town DJ Grooves used for his film! And under that, it was Mafia Town! The Nyakuza Metro… there was even those lines from Alpine Skyline…

 

What was displayed in front of her was a big metropole of amalgamated cities of the planet, divided into 12 sections.

 

She walked into town, looking at everything, bewildered.  _ What is going on!? _ And then she noticed a familiar person. A kid like her, but with a big, blue bow.

 

“Hey! Bow Kid!” She called out, running and catching her into a bear hug. “I was so worried about you! What-”

 

“Woah there! Calm down!” Bow Kid exclaims once she was released from the hug, putting some distance between her and Hat Kid, her lavender eyes looking at Hat Kid like she was completely insane.

 

“Bow?” Hat Kid voices trembled at her friend's expression. “Wait- oh no. Please...by Lord Tim, please! Don't tell me that…”

 

“How do you even know my name? It’s my first time seen you ar...ound… Wait. Don't tell me. Do we actually  _ know each other _ !?” Bow Kid grasped Hat Kid hands, hope filling eyes. “You have to come with me!”

 

Hat Kid was about to respond, but suddenly, a familiar voice interrupted her. “ **Get…** ”

 

“Look out! cried out Bow, pushing Hat out as a spray paint can hit the floor, exploding and splashing Hat.

 

_ Health: 1/4 _

 

“ **...Away from her, you** **_spy_ ** **!** ” Mustache Girl said, standing up on the wall and jumping down, putting herself between Hat and Bow. And, wait… isn’t that the Nyakuza gear?! 

“You there! Do  _ not _ believe one word of that girl! You’ll be safer with me! Come along!" Mustache rushed Hat Kid, reaching her hand out to her.

 

Wait! No! Please! Come with me! I can give you some information! Please!” Bow rushed to her too, desperate.

 

Hat Kid looked back and forth between the two girls, disconnected. She closed her eyes for a second. When she opened her eyes, a determined light shines in them. She…

[The choice is yours…]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poll is close. Thanks for your patronage ^3^


	3. Welcome to the Gang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp! Now I know that MU is more popular than Bow... Sorry Bow^^”

Bow and Mustache Girl were holding hands with her. She closed her eyes for a second. When she opened her eyes, a determined light shined in them. 

 

She took the hand of Mustache Girl. Not long after, she yanked Hat and they ran away together to the alley as Bow cried out: “WAIT! **NO!** ”

 

Hat Kid chose Mustache not because she trusted her, but because at this time, Mustache Girl could be useful. And the fact that she said Bow was a spy bothered her a lot. Her best friend, a spy? She had a hard time believing it… There were too many things that were going on and she couldn’t quite grasp what was really happening.

 

After a while, once both of them couldn’t run, they stopped and tried to catch their breath. Mustache Girl looked her up and down as she tilted her head aside. “I don't know why, but I feel like we already meet somewhere, haven’t we?” she asked as she frowned.

 

 _So her too, huh?_ The kid thought before nodding. Well, she wasn't surprised. She was pretty sure that if Mustache remembered the beat-up she had, she would have never helped her…

 

“Can you help me? I’d like to know what’s going on in this place and where we are…” Kid request as they started to walk again.

 

Mustache was still frowning, trying to figure out why she felt such… such a grudge towards the newcomer, but shrugged it off as she responded, “Not here. Come, I’ll guide you to The Four.”

 

“The Four?” Hat repeated.

 

“Yes, The Four.” She confirmed without elaborating.

 

Though Hat was curious who were “The Four,” she felt like the girl wouldn’t give her more answers than this, so she just followed her.

 

But as they kept advancing, Hat started to have doubts… she felt like they were walking in circles. Everything seemed the same as the other streets. Well, she _had_ been here for only… 2 hours in this dimension? It’s only natural for her to not have seen much yet. Well, that was what she had been trying to convince herself… she has a pretty good sense of orientation.

 

“...Say, why did you call Bow a spy?” asked Hat as her curiosity got the better of her.

 

“Because she works for that… **villain.** ” Mu answered, grimacing.

Hat was taken aback. Even with the Mafia, Mu hadn’t sounded so… full of hatred and rage. However, it somehow relieved her to see that Mu still disliked bad guys as much as ever.

 

“Here.” MU instructed as she lifted up the manhole. “Don't be such a baby! Jump in before people notice us,” she ordered when she saw the grimace Hat had made. 

Hat really didn’t want to enter, but because of Mu’s urgent tone, she jumped in, followed by her companion, who closed the entrance after them.

 

Mu took her hand and guide her in the underground labyrinth. 

 

It wasn’t long before Hat could hear multiple voices, echoing from nearby.

 

“I’ve been telling you that isn’t a good idea.” one of the voices said, not fully convinced. About what? Hat Kid didn’t know yet.

 

Wait, that Scottish accent! No way!

 

“No one cares about what _you_ think, you old geezer!” another responded, with a strong Italian accent, clearly grumpy for some reason.

 

“If I’m an old geezer, ye’re a fossil, ya fake chef!” shouted back the first voice.

 

_The Conductor! Mafia Boss!_

 

“Both of you, pipe down. You’re giving me a _migraine._ ” a third person said, her voice all mighty and haughty.

 

_Empress!?_

 

“What about _you_ , lassie?" the Conductor asked the fourth person. Though it seemed they didn’t want to reply, as they kept silent. The Conductor sighed. “Still don’t want to speak up, huh?”

 

Hat was trying to guess who was the fourth, but then Mu knocked the door in a certain way, like a pattern. The voices suddenly died down, as Empress ordered, “You can come in.”

 

The place wasn’t particularly big. Or tidy, either. Well, the third part was. Only where the big guy was was clean. Hat was quite surprised when she saw that the fourth person was Goat of all people. She looked at Mu, confused, then at the four.

 

“I bring the newbie.” declared Mu, showing Hat.

 

“A kid?” Ask Conductor, confused. “That space junk belongs to a kid?”

 

“Junk? It is a spaceship, you inculcated-” growled Mafia Boss

 

“Nothing coming from outer space is good! Just like those moon penguins…” replied the Conductor. That almost made Hat smile, but it soon faded as the realization hit her.

 

“The spaceship? MY SPACESHIP!” Oh god! How did she manage to forget her ship?! “Do you know where’s my ship?” she asked frantically.

 

“Calm down. Do you really want to go out there while you know nothing, little kid?” said Empress, as she looked at her with a sharp eye, judging her.

 

“That’s right! It's dangerous outside! You can't just go on your own into the unknown!” exclaimed MU, worried.

 

Hat hesitated. On one hand, she would like to have some explanation, but her ship must still have some Time Pieces in it and she can't let them fall in the wrong hands…

 

What was she supposed to do?

 

[[The choice is yours…]](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesQF1gHZ9HvfKf0i-jOQ_UCrwhOgy2sO8Sm2LvuC9uIHDkrA/viewform?usp=sf_link)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always^^ the poll will stay open for 2 week^^

**Author's Note:**

> At every end of a chapter, there will be a Poll with multiple choice for you to pick which can change the story (kinda).


End file.
